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Katie Reed O'Neal family papers, 1800-1972 (bulk 1800-1865).
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Collection Overview

Title:

Katie Reed O'Neal family papers, 1800-1972 (bulk 1800-1865)

Creator/Contributor:

O'Neal, Katie Reed, 1891-1989, creator

Creator/Contributor:

Basham, Barnett, 1799-1874

Creator/Contributor:

Downing, William G.

Creator/Contributor:

Cecil, Samuel Stewart.

Creator/Contributor:

Campbell, Daniel.

Abstract:

Contains mostly 19th century handwritten receipts, contracts, deeds, documents, correspondence, food and medicine recipes, and other miscellany from a Missouri family who relocated to California in 1907. Includes two "bills of sale" for three African-Americans bought as slaves in Scotland County, Missouri by family member, Barnett Basham. The slaves were originally owned by Daniel Campbell who was declared "to be a person of unsound mind" by a jury in Scotland County. The envelope containing the bills of sale for the slaves has handwritten notes on it signed by Katie R. O'Neal on May 30, 1963 with added information including, "Barnett Basham, step-father of Willam Gray Reed [Katie's father] bought these slaves. My daddy's father, Peter Reed, didn't believe in selling and buying human beings." Also includes two photographs (4x6, b & w) of family members, an infant photograph of Oren O'Neal, Katie O'Neal's husband, and a photograph of an unidentified older woman, [Katie O'Neal or other family member?]. Also includes a color snapshot of two framed photographs of a man and a woman (possibly the Mr. and Mrs. Oren O'Neal referred to on the envelope annotations). Some of the materials include more recent handwritten annotations with added information about the family and are signed by Katie Reed O'Neal in the 1960's and 1970's
Sept. 18, 1858. Scotland County, Missouri. William G. Downing, court-appointed guardian for Daniel Campbell, to Barnett Basham for $700 dollars." ... assigns [to Barnett Basham] the said Negro man Jeff now about the age of forty-five years a dark mulatto together with all the rights, title, interest and claim of the said Daniel Campbell ..."
Aug. 6, 1859. Scotland County, Missouri. Samuel S. Cecil to Barnett Basham for $600 dollars. "A Negro woman named Eliza about thirty-five (35) years of age of fair or light complexion. Also a Negro girl named Angelina about ten years of age, fair or light complexion, said to be slaves for life." Originally sold to Samuel S. Cecil on Sept. 28, 1858, by William G. Downing, court-appointed guardian for Daniel Campbell

Date:

1800 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-mo -- n-us---
Slaveholders -- Missouri -- Scotland County
Slaveholders -- United States
Slave trade -- Missouri -- Scotland County
Slave trade -- United States
Slavery -- Missouri -- Scotland County
Slavery -- United States
Enslaved persons -- Missouri -- Scotland County
Enslaved persons -- United States
Propriétaires d'esclaves -- Missouri -- Scotland
Propriétaires d'esclaves -- États-Unis
Esclaves -- Commerce -- Missouri -- Scotland
Esclaves -- Commerce -- États-Unis
Esclavage -- États-Unis
Esclaves -- Missouri -- Scotland
Esclaves -- États-Unis
Manners and customs
Slave trade
Slaveholders
Slavery
Enslaved persons
Scotland County (Mo.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Miller (Mo. : Township) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Missouri -- Miller (Township)
Missouri -- Scotland County
United States
O'Neal, Katie Reed -- 1891-1989 -- Archives
Basham, Barnett -- 1799-1874
Downing, William G
Cecil, Samuel Stewart
Campbell, Daniel
O'Neill family
Reed family
Gray family
Gray family
O'Neill family
Reed family

Note:

Gift; Of O'Neal family; 1972.
Katie Reed O'Neal (1891-1989), daughter of William Gray Reed and Mary Ellen Bridges, grew up in Miller township, Scotland County, Missouri. Her family moved to California in 1907 where she married Oliver Oren O'Neal in 1927. The O'Neals lived in Dinuba, California before moving to north Oakland in Alameda County sometime before 1930.
Barnett Basham (1799-1874) was born in Kentucky and married the widow Nancy Gray Reed in Scotland County, Missouri, on April 7, 1856.
Samuel Stewart Cecil was born in Kentucky and reared in Scotland County, Missouri, attending public schools there and also Fayette College. On April 10, 1863, he and his family joined a train of 105 wagons en route to California eventually settling in Yolo County.
William G. Downing was from a wealthy Virginia family. After marrying Mary Jones, the daughter of the first sheriff of Scotland County, Missouri, he went back to Virginia and returned with 12 slaves (10 men and 2 women) to build his home in 1858. It is now the Downing House Museum located in Memphis, Missouri.
Preferred citation: Katie Reed O'Neal papers, BANC MSS 2012/117, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
In English.

Type:

legal documents.
recipes.
bills of sale.
Recipes
Bills of sale
Archives
Photographs.
Recipes.
Bills of sale.
Deeds.
Legal instruments.
Recettes.
Actes de vente.

Physical Description:

print
1 box (0.2 linear feet)

Language:

English

Origin:

Missouri